Chain Reaction
by crazybeaster12
Summary: Vampire Stephenie Meyer accidently creates a newborn vampire which releases havoc on a small suburban community. Disclaimer: I do not own any Twilight characters, themes, or anything. They are Stephenie Meyer's
1. Chapter 1

Chain Reaction

**Chapter 1: Inspiration**

I dropped my pencil and stared out the window. A white sheet of snow covered the silent earth. It was December 23, and I was working on yet another twilight novel. I had argued with my manager about this, I was simply out of ideas but the amount of money on the line made it inevitable. I licked my perfect icy lips and let out a perfect icy sigh. I needed something, anything to kick start my creativity. I needed inspiration. Maybe some fresh air, or a walk. Yes a walk sounded nice. I lithely leapt up from my desk and was out the door and into the night in less than a second. I sucked in a deep breath of cool damp air and filled my lungs with its sweetness. The cold air would have been too much for a fragile human but I was easily comfortable in nothing but my sheer red satin holiday dress. I started out with an even jog, my bare feet barely making a print in the snow. Soon I was flying past the trees at an unimaginable speed. The bitter wind whipped my  
perfect face. Before I knew it I reached civilization. It was too late for any human to be out and about, do I wandered aimlessly into the central park. Clusters if simple humans meandered aimlessly down the pathways, laughing huddling close together as snow began to fall lightly. I tried fruitlessly to remember my human days but there was no point. I'd been a vampire for so long that I didn't even remember who changed me. It doesn't matter u told myself. This is your life now. It's all you know.  
I slipped through the shadows waiting and watching. I was thirsty and I was ready to make my move. My throat burned like someone had rubbed sandpaper against the inside. Reminiscing about my human years made me feel slightly sensitive for the first time in a while so instead of killing anyone who crossed my path I decided to scope out someone who deserved to die or particularly irritated me. Whichever came first.  
It wasn't long before I heard muffled voices coming from up the path I was watching and I froze. A small family rounded the bend and came into view. They smelled so sweet. The mom was tall with blond wavy hair and an annoying face. The dad was about the same height but he didn't bother me so much he looked like he really didn't want to be there which amused me, I would spare him. Their child was quite interesting he was rather plump with most of his weight distributed to his head and butt giving him an odd silliuette.  
The mom spoke. "isn't it nice to have the family together at the Christmas season!" she whined in her annoying voice.  
Isn't it nice that your voice is as irritating as your face?, I thought.  
"whatever mom I wanna go home. I'm missing the latest episode of john and Kate plus eight," the child grumbled.  
"whatever peter" the mom sighed. I felt bad for her all she wanted was a happy family holiday and her big headed offspring was giving her a hard time. I would spare her too, which left the peter-kid.  
" I gotta take a dump before we go home. I'm going to find a bathroom." stated the peter-kid.  
This was my chance. I glided stealthily through the trees watching the peter-kid's every move as he bumbled through the trees and undergrowth on his final quest to the porter johns.  
I watched intently as he broke through the trees and into an open area of the park. It was circular and paved with street lights casting just enough light to see by. There was no one else around.  
He turned around slowly and sighed " no bathroom stupid park builders never think about peoples needs."  
He started to waddle back. My muscles coiled and tensed and I sprang to life. I lunged through the air and knocked him forward and he landed right on his face. I pinned both of his arms back and used my foot to snap his spine and finish him. He never saw it coming.  
I knelt down and drank his blood. The fire In my throat was soothed more and more every second. I was so absorbed in my first meal in months that I didn't realize that I had company untill several blinding headlights shone directly at me. I looked up and found myself surrounded by five cop cars. Apparently a patrol dude spotted me and alerted all his little friends.  
The cop in the first car got out and his jaw dropped and half chewed doughnut fell out.  
What a threatening enemy I thought.  
I could have easily taken all of them down but I felt bad, I would be terminating five peoples husbands fathers or friends the day before Christmas eve. I may be a vampire, but I still have a heart, a cold silent one but a heart none the less. So instead of leaving five people very unpleasant Christmas surprises, I fled the scene leaving the half drained Peter-kid behind not knowing the amount of damage my choice was about to make.

**Chapter 2: All I Want for Christmas is an Undead Stalker**

**Charlotte Brennan's Point of View**

It was the day of Christmas eve and I was kicking my little brother's butt at Dont Wake Up Daddy when the phone rang.  
"Hey Alissa get the phone!" I called.  
"No because when I wanted you to get the phone when I was doing something you didn't and I missed a very important call about my friend's beanie baby collection and-"  
"Never mind just shut up!" I shouted!  
I'd rather answer the phone than listen to my sister bring up something I did ten years ago anyday.  
I ran up from the basement and grabbed the phone off the receiver just as it blared out it's final ring.  
"hello?"  
"Hi this is St John's parish is Charlotte there?" the woman's voice asked.  
"This is her" I replied.  
What could she want with me? It's not my turn to altar serve, I was scheduled for the next mass.  
"Hi Charlotte, one of our altar servers for tonight's Christmas Eve mass has failed to return our calls therefore were not sure if they're coming tonight. Is it possible for you to take his place tonight? The mass starts at 5."  
" Um, hold on." I said.  
I dashed to the front door and popped my head out. My mom was outside cleaning the garage.  
"hey mom! Can I altar serve tonight? The parish just called and they need me!"  
I called.  
"I guess so. What time?" she asked from behind a pile of basketballs and softballs.  
"5" I called back  
" Alright, but you'll have to walk back because I'll be cooking like crazy for all the relatives coming tonight! "  
" Kay!"  
I raced back to the kitchen and picked up the phone.  
"Hi I can make it" I said into the phone.  
" Oh thank you Charlotteyour such a great help see you at five." and then the line went dead.  
Alright, I thought, my Christmas Eve wasn't ruined, just slightly soiled by altar serving and walking home after.

"Charlotte!", my little brother Stefan whined.

I had forgotten that I was in the middle of a very intense board game. I really didn't feel like continuing. I thought about all the time I had to kill until 5 and it scared me. What would I do with myself! It's only 9 am! I heard my cell phone up in my room. My ringtone, Taylor Swift's "Our Song", was just loud enough to hear from downstairs. I ran up and answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey Charlotte it's Mitzi!"

Mitzi was one of my best friends. She was tall with brown curly hair and we'd been through everything together. There were some moments when she made me feel like bitch slapping her across the face (and I actually had a few times), but you'd let it slide too if you knew how awesome she was otherwise.

"Hey Mitz." I said.

"Um... Charlotte can I come over your house today?" she said in a voice that sounded really worried.

"I guess so, I have to ask my mom though because- "

"Oh well funny story" she interrupted, "but I'm already in front of your house as we speak so that would be futile."

"Wait what? How did that happen? Hello? Hello!?." I shouted into my cell phone, but the line was already dead.

The doorbell rang downstairs. I ran down to answer it and there was my friend, holding up her phone with an apologetic smile on her face. and a pleading look in her eyes.

"Uh, hi." she stammered.

"What the? Mitzi Prime what are you doing at my house the day of Christmas Eve?" I asked.

"Well you see, my mom was going to take my sisters and me into the city today to go to the Met because she says they have this really awesome Christmas tree and stuff, but we've gone so many times that I don't think I can take it anymore so I tried to come up with an excuse, but couldn't think of anything so I just said that you'd invited me over and I'd already said yes and she wasn't happy with that, but she drove me here anyway and she'll be back at like four-ish to pick me up so you don't have to tell your mom and if she doesn't want me here I can hide somewhere, maybe in the bathroom where I lost my retainer that time and-"

"Mitzi!" I shouted

"Oh sorry. I just... um.."

"Well you're here now so you might as well com inside." I said.

"Thank you!" she huffed and tumbled through the door.

My sister Alissa had heard all the commotion and come downstairs in to the kitchen.

"Hey Mitzi!" she said.

Before Mitzi could say anything I gave Alissa a look that said 'get out of here and don't tell mom or I'll tell her about that time you pushed Stefan down the steps and I covered for you and said he slipped on a dirty sock or something.' Well I don't know if my one look conveyed all that, but at least it got her out of the kitchen.

"Wanna go outside?" Mitzi asked.

"Sure" I replied and followed her out the sliding glass doors to my swing set in my backyard. I sat down on one of the swings and rocked slowly back and forth. The sky was clouded over and white, but it didn't look like it was going to rain yet. Mitzi picked up my huge green workout ball and pitched it at me. I swung and kicked it. sending it flying over her head.

"Okay I'm not getting that." she stated and walked over and sat on the swing next to me. I told her about the altar serving and she told me about her mom's obsession with art and the Metropolitan Museum of it. I expressed my sympathy. We talked for a really long time about graduation, how we would stay in touch after middle school at St. Don's, how we would grow really old and be nursing home buddies together, how this kid in a band we saw looked a lot like her cousin Cassandra. The usual stuff. That's one of the things I like about Mitzi, she can be crazy funny, but she can also be a really good listener when I need to talk. We talked for hours, went inside, ordered Chinese takeout, read our fortune cookies, ate our fortune cookies and resumed talking until her mom pulled up in her big black Escalade.

"I better go." Mitzi said.

"Alright." I said and helped her gather her stuff together.

I walked her to the door and waved as she drove off. I casually glanced at the time on my cell phone: 4:45.

"Crap." I said under my breath. I raced up to my room checked myself in the mirror, and called my mom to get in the car. I ran outside and met my mom in the van.

"Hey" I gasped. I was out of breath from running around like a maniac.

My mom started the car and backed out of our driveway."Why didn't you tell me that Mitzi was here?" she said without looking at me.

"Um..." I gulped, "you knew?"

"Of course I knew. I just didn't want to say anything while she was here. What was I supposed to do? Kick her out onto the street?" she asked.

"I'm sorry mom it's just that it was really last minute and it was sort of an emergency." I mumbled.

"Oh really?" my mom said as she raised her eyebrow. "Well I guess it's over now and there's no use beating a dead horse." she sighed.

I felt really bad, I hate disappointing my mom. We sat in awkward silence for the rest of the ride until we pulled up in front of St. Don's church

"I'll see you later honey!" My mom called as I slipped out of the car and trekked up to the St. Don's parish center.

"Bye mom!"I called over my shoulder.

I hurried up the path and yanked open the doors which were embellished by eerie looking frosted-glass saints. The church was fairly modern. I ran past the front desk while the shriveled old lady behind it gave me a nasty look. I ran through another set of doors into the crowded church. The church was huge with three wings protruding in three directions. One in front of the altar and two to the left and right. I kept running while a few churchgoers stared. I was concentrating so hard on getting my robe on in time that I crashed right into Mark Tolce. he was another of the altar servers who was my age. We went to school together so we were pretty close. He had shaggy blondish brown hair and he was about my height. One feature that really stood out were his eyes. He had these puppy dog eyes that made you want to do basically anything for him.

"Ow creep!" Mark said. I had knocked him into a pile of white altar server robes which we were now buried in.

Mark picked robes and ties off himself until he was free and stood up.

"Oh. It's you. Hey Charlotte!" he said.

I was still sitting pathetically in a pile of robes.

"Hey Mark. sorry about that. I was running late and I didn't really see you so...yeah." I said from my throne of robes.

"Hey it's alright." he said. "I thought you were some crazy priest or something. I'll take you over a crazy priest any day." He offered me his hand to help me up.

"Um thanks, I think." I said as I began to stand up and pick a robe from the pile to wear.

As I was tying my robe together and listening to Mark babble about trying to blow something up with Coke and a Mento, the shriveled front desk lady came over.

"You two have to get out there now. Stop fooling around." she said. She picked up a robe from the messy pile and frowned.

"You'll have to deal with this later." she said and stormed off to do whatever it is that front desk ladies do.

Mark grabbed the Holy cross-on-a -stick and we scampered through the crowd and out the doors so we could lead in the processional. The loud heavy organ music started up and we led the priest and company through the doors and up to the altar.

"Welcome brothers and sisters." the ancient priest droned. Mark looked like he was about to fall asleep. His head was tilted to one side and his mouth hung slightly open. I reached over and pinched him in the arm flub and he snapped up, suddenly remembering where he was and what he was doing.

While Mark was holding the priest lectionary book up at the altar, I took a moment to look around. I saw the familiar faces of the congregation. My friend Mitzi was there sitting in one of the back rows next to some guy. After a second look, I realized I knew that guy. He was Peter, a kid who used to go to my school and then transfered out. Had he been working out? He looked pale and tired, but a lot better than the last time I'd seen him. He was taller and really buff and he had thinned out a lot. The only reason I recognized him was his trademark big head. At least that was still there. His eyes looked really intense and his face was twisted like he smelt something really bad. He was alone too, which was odd. Whenever I'd seen him before he had always been with his parents. He looked up from the groud he was staring at and for a second he met my gaze. The look he gave me was so frightening, I looked away immediately. When I looked up, he was still staring at me.

Other than that little scenario, the mass went pretty normally. There was one incident during Communion when the chriveled front desk lady walked by and gave us a nasty look. Mark said he wanted to tell her what she could do with her Communion, but I restrained him.

When the time came, we picked up the cross-on-a-stick and led the priests back out the doors to the tune of "The First Noel". Mark and I returned back to the church's storage room and began picking up our mess from before the mass. After about two minutes, Mark flopped down on some robes with a tremendous "Oof",and sighed.

"Mark, what are you doing?" I asked.

"Resting." he replied simply, and closed his eyes.

"Get up you big oaf." I said and chucked a robe onto his face.

"Whatever." He grumbled, and we resumed picking up robes until they were all off the floor and back on the rack where they came from.

Then I remembered I was walking home.

"Oh poop." I said sadly.

"What's wrong?" Mark asked.

"I have to walk home, all the way back to my house." I sighed.

"Alone?" he asked.

"Yup."

"Well that stinks. I've got wheels so I'm good." he sid with a smug expression on his face.

"You mean your bikle?" I said with my eyebrow raised.

"Yes.." Mark said with a defeated expression.

"Well I better get going." I said and began walking toward the front doors of the church. I said goodbye to Mark and he looked like he wanted to say something else, but he didn't.

I opened the church doors and stepped outside. It was cold and dark, not exactly ideal conditions for walking home. I began my trek, walking through the church parking lot and down the street. There weren't many people on the road. I turned left and started walking up the hill that led to the road my house was on. There was no one on this road and I have to admit, I was freaking out. I'd seen a few horror movies and I knew what happened to people when they walked alone on cold winter nights. I hurried my pace. I heard something rustle in the trees and I almost screamed. It's okay, I told myself, just a stupid squirrel or something, calm down. I couldn't shake the feeling that something or someone was watching me. I heard the trees rustle again and a branch snapped loudly breaking the silence with a loud, THWACK! I started running faster than I ever ran before. I was scared. It was dark and cold and I was alone and something was following me. As I ran my heart beat throbbed in my ears. I glanced behind me on the sidewalk, and there was no one there. I was about to slow my pace when, SLAM!, I rammed into something hard as stone and fell back onto the sidewalk. I tried to scream but a cold hard hand covered my mouth. I kicked and flailed my arms around, but nothing happened. Whoever this person was, they were really strong. The person pushed me againts a tree and took both of my wrists in one of his hands and pinned them above my head. His hands where like iron handcuffs. No matter how hard I tried, I had nothing on him. I looked up into my captor's face and almost had a heart attack.

"PETER?!?!?" I screamed into his hand, so it came out like "Pfffterrg?"

I remembered all the time's we'd made fun of him in school and suddenly I felt very sorry.

He started to talk in a cold and evil velvet voice. "Hi there little Charlotte." he said. His voice was sickeningly sweet.

"Don't try to fight me girl." He said." I'm just going to kill you quick and easy and get it over with so don't struggle because you don't stand a chance."

He looked at me straight in the eyes and removed his hand from my mouth.

"What in the name of God could you possibly want from me?" I said. My voice sounded a lot stronger than I felt.

"Your blood." he sighed and leaned his face in under my chin. "You smell so delicious, and I have you all for myself." he said, sounding quite pleased with himself.

"What?" I said. I couldn't beleieve Peter thought he was a vampire.

"Don't play dumb with me Charlotte." He said into my neck. His cold icy breath sent a shiver down my spine. "Feel my skin, hear my voice, look into my eyes and tell me what you see.

His eyes were red like fire, his voive velvet and laced with evil and his skin was as cold as ice.

"You're really creeping me out Peter." I said. My voice still sounded brave even though I was not.

"Well my apologies Charlotte, love." He said and opened his mouth to go in for the kill.

"Wait!" I almost screamed.

"What now?" he said, looking really impatient. He lifted his head so it was even with mine.

"You don't have to kill me Peter!" I cried.

"Why not?" he said as his icy finger traced my neck.

I racked my brain for an excuse. Then I remembered he had a crush on me in 6th grade before he left. If I had any luck in the world, maybe he still liked me.

"Because your so strong and brave...and handsome." I squeaked. Ew. I felt my Communion coming back up. "You could make me a vampire too. I could keep you company. You don't have to be alone." I said, trying to make my voice sound flirty.

He raised an eyebrow. "I could." he said. "Why should a handsome beautiful vampire like myself be alone anyway. You'd be quite a lovely companion." He said, looking directly into my eyes. His eyes burned like fire.

"See?" I said. I didn't really know where this was going, I was waiting for an opportunity to make a run for it or something.

"Hey!" a raspy voice called from a few yards away.

We both turned and there was Mark on his bike holding the holy cross-on-a-stick like a sword, pointing it at Peter.

"Get your fatty sausage hands off her!" he yelled.

Peter looked ready to explode. He turned and looked at him with a menacing expression. Mark flinched, but didn't run away.

"The power of Christ compells you!" he shouted triumphantly, and launched the cross at Peter. He had great aim because it hit Peter right in the stomach. It made a noise like metal clanging against rock.

"What the?" Mark mumbled.

"Run Mark!" I screamed.

Peter looked from me to Mark deciding what he wanted more. I needed to distract Peter so Mark could get away. What I did next I am not proud of, but it was very effective. I brought my knee up with as much force as I could and hit Peter where the daylights don't shine, if you know what I mean. It hurt like crazy. The last thing I saw was an outraged look on Peter's face. The last thing I felt was Ice cold razors cuttiong into the soft skin on my neck and the last thing I heard was Mike's peddaling as fast as his bike could take him.


	2. Chapter 3: The Gift That Keeps on Giving

**Chapter 3: The Gift That Keeps on Giving**

I was in a hospital room with white walls and blue curtains around my hospital bed. Complex machined whirred and beeped all around me, and I honestly didn't want to know what they did. They sky outside was black so I guessed it was nighttime. I looked around the room. Mark Tolce was sitting in a chair in the corner sleeping. Then it all came back to me. I sat bolt upright in the hospital bed and held up my hand in front of my face. It was white as snow and perfect. Oh snap. I wondered why Mark was in my hospital room.

"Hey Mark! Wake up!" I called.

"Wha? Oh my God Charlotte! Your alive! How is that possible? That beepie thing stopped beeping! I didn't want to tell anyone 'cause I didn't want them to take you away!" Mike said. He looked very flustered and tired.

"And you fell asleep?" I asked.

"Well I haven't slept much since that night when Peter attacked you. I keep getting really bad dreams." He said. He looked very afraid.

"Aw, Mark! Come here!" I said. I leaped out of the bed in one fluid motion and ran over and gave him a big hug.

"Uhhh...." Mark mumbled. He was blushing and looked really uncomfortable. I looked down and realized I was wearing nothing but a paper hospital gown.

"Oh, sorry." I said and released him from the hug. "Where'd they put my clothes?"

"I don't know." Mark said. "And what happened to you? You look um, really white and...nice."

"Mark, I don't know how to explain this any better." I sighed. "Peter was a vampire and now I'm a vampire. The only reason I'm not dead is that I told him I'd be his vampire girlfriend or something. So we'd better- "

"Ah, Charlotte." A familiar velvet voice crooned from the window.

"Crap. Mark get on my back!" I shouted.

"But, I'm fat. There's no way you'll be able to carry me!" Mark whined.

"Shut up and do it!" I yelled with so much force that Mark didn't complain again.

I bolted down the hall while nurses dropped their equipment in shock. Mark was sheilding his eyes with his hand and holding on tight with the other hand. Behind me I heard Peter's voice call "You can run, but you can't hide Charlotte Brennan! I'll find you!I'm a tracker!"

"Oh, fabulous." I breathed and continued running. I was well out of the hospital by now. I was racing down the dark streets at lightning speed. There was no need to stop or catch my breath and I wasn't afraid of the dark anymore. I was part of the dark. Nothing could touch me, except maybe crazy obsessive vampires named Peter. I slowed down and observed my surroundings after running a couple miles.

"Where are we?" Mark whispered. His voice was shaking because he was so scared.

"Where a couple miles north of the hospital, but we can't stay here forever or Peter will pick up our trail again." I said, trying to keep my voice calm so I wouldn't scare Mark.

"Oh. should we hide somewhere?" Mark asked.

"I don't know Mark where would we go?" I couldn't go home, and I coudn't stay in the same place for too long.

'What about Mitzi's house?" he suggested.

I gave him a look that said, "Why Mitzi's house?" and he scrambled to come up with a good save.

"Well." he said, "Because Peter wouldn't think to look there. He left the school before you and Mitzi really became friends right?"

"Right and also because you have a crush on Mitzi right?" that got him to shut up.

I thought about it. I guess it would be okay, and Mitzi owed me one for letting her come over on Christmas Eve. Wow, that was the last night I'd seen her. She probably still thought I was in the hospital. I had to let her know I was okay.

"Alright." I agreed.

I ran and started gaining speed until I was flying towards Mitzi's house. I passed the house that we always joked looked like Cullen's house in Twilight and I laughed silently to myself. In less than 5 minutes I was standing on Mitzi's doorstep. I decided not to ring the bell because I had no idea how late at night it was. I snuck around to the back of the house and dropped off Mark.

"I'm going to try to get in through the window. Wait here until I come back and get you." I whispered.

"But, Charlotte." Mark whimpered. "I'm scared."'

"Relax, I'll be a few yards away and I can hear way better than you can. Peter isn't on our trail yet." I assured him.

And with that, I leapt up to the window in one jump and heard Mark say, "That was so beast." I tapped on the window and waited. About a minute passed and I tried again, this time a little louder. I heard stirring from inside the room, and the shades opened wide. Mitzi's groggy face stared back at me and she screamed. I motioned to her to open the window. She understood, and with shaking fingers she opened the latch and I slipped inside. Her sister rolled over in her sleep and grunted something that sounded like 'Shut Up'.

"Charlotte!" Mitzi whispered as she ran and gave me a huge hug.

"Hey, Mitzi." I whispered back. It was really good to see her again.

"Ew, why are you so cold and hard and white. Well you're always white, but this is a new level, even for you! Why are you in a hospital robe?" she said.

"Mitzi there's no way you're gonna believe this." I sighed. I told her the whole story starting from when she'd left my house and ending with right now. When I was done I expected her to start laughing or something but all she said was, "Peter stinks, and you better go get Mark."

"Are you afraid of me? Are you sure you know how much danger you're putting yourself in by helping us?" I asked as I shook her shoulders.

"No I'm not afraid of you, you're my best friend and I'm always getting in to some kind of dangerous situation so we can add this one to the list. Now, go get Mark before he gets lost or something."

I jumped back out the window and landed gracefully with a muted thump.

"Ahh!" Mark screamed.

"Mark, it's me you fool. Now hop on my back. Mitzi said we could hide here for a while."

"Alright." Mark said. I could still hear his heart beating heavily. I'd given him quite a scare.

I bounded back up to the window with Mark, but he barely weighed me down. It felt like carrying a stuffed animal.

"Hey Mark." Mitzi said cheerfully.

Mark blushed and I slapped him across the face. Mitzi led us down the hall to the empty guest bedroom and turned on the light. It was a square shaped room with thick carpeting and dark wood furniture. Clothes lay on the floor in mishappen piles. I plopped down on the bed while Mitzi stared at my new vampire face trying to figure out if I was the same person. Mark stared at Mitzi with a stupid expression on his face, but she didn't seem to notice. I closed my eyes so I could concentrate. Peter was right. We couldn't hide forever, he would just keep finding us again and again. I needed help and I had no idea where I could find any. I couldn't just call up the police station and say, "Yeah, there's this crazy vampire on the loose and he won't stop stalking me." I felt alone and helpless.

Mitzi plopped down beside me. "You okay?" she asked.

"No. I'm alone with Mark and I need help." I sighed.

"I could help you." She looked really determined.

"How?" I asked dully.

"You could make me a vampire too. Then I could help you." She said it like I should have done it already.

It would be great to have Mitzi with me, but she would be giving up a lot. There was no going back.

I turned to tell Mitzi that it wasn't a good idea, but I heard noises coming from outside. Peter was back. In a split second he was in the room with us. Shattered glass was all over the floor and he had both of my friends in his iron grip.

"Hey Peter what's crackin'? Haven't seen you in a while. You look good kid. Still got the big head though eh?" Mitzi asked.

"Shut up you pathetic little girl." Peter snarled.

Mark Tolce was frozen in fear.

"Let them go Peter." I said calmly.

"I'll let them go if you hold up your end of the bargain. I believe the deal was, you come with me and be a good little girl and I spare your life by turning you into a vampire. Since you have failed to be true to your word, I'll happily take your friends lives to make up for it." He said in his silky evil voice."

He stroked the side of Mitzi's face with the back of his hand, and Mitzi tried to bite him. He smiled and turned to me. "The choice is yours, now decide before I lose my patience. "

I lunged at Peter and he dropped Mark and punched me in the gut, sending me flying out the window. He jumped down after me with Mitzi in his grip.

"Fool." He mocked. I sprang up, but I was too late. He bit Mitzi and threw her on the ground. She screamed and rolled through the grass, writhing in pain as the poison started to spread. I felt my anger make me stronger. I ran at Peter with all my strength. I jumped at him and ripped one of his arms away and threw it. He growled and pulled his lips back revealing his teeth like a lion. His arm crawled towards Mark who picked up a branch and started smacking it. Peter knew he couldn't beat me with just one arm and he retreated into the woods and away into the night. I ran to Mitzi, she was jerking and twisting as the fire spread through her body. It was too late for me to save her. I started crying but no tears came. Peter's arm stopped trying to get at Mark and began crawling into the woods they way Peter had gone. Mike ran over to me and hugged me. He was so scared. I knelt down next to my friend wishing with everything I had that I could speed up the process so she wouldn't have to endure the pain. I shut my eyes and prayed that I could help her somehow. When I opened them Mitzi was sitting there, looking totally fine. Better than fine. Her hair had grown out longer and was perfectly curly. Her face and body were thinner. Her eyes were burning red. She stood up and smiled at me. I couldn't even say anything so I sat there stupidly and stared.

Mark looked like he was about to faint.

"You look pretty." He babbled.

I had discovered my special ability. I could control the time it took for things to happen. I glanced at a dandelion growing on the lawn, and I concentrated on it. It grew, flourished, shriveled and died in a matter of seconds.


	3. Chapter 4: Mitzi's Time to Shine

"Now what?" asked Mitzi.

"I don't know." I said. I wasn't really concentrating on her. I was having way too much fun making the grass grow in random splotches in Mitzi's backyard.

"I'm hungry." stated Mark.

Mitzi walked over to me. She looked really concerned and confused at the same time.

"I thought newborns were supposed to be like crazy for human blood and stuff like that. How come we're in control?" she asked.

"Probably because we knew what was going to happen before it happened. We knew what to expect. Like Bella in Breaking Dawn." I answered.

I had no idea what time it was, but the moon was still up and stars shone in the ink-black sky.

"We have to move." I said.

"Way to go! Don't strain your brain too hard now." Mitzi looked at me with mock concern.

"Hah." I huffed dryly.

"So what are we gonna do about Mark?" she asked, jerking her head in his direction.

Mark was lying on his back rubbing his stomach. "So hungry…" he moaned.

"Yeah, yeah big guy." I sighed. "There's nothing we can do about it so just let it out. Mark we're going to try to find a new place to hide and we can't leave you here because Peter knows you're with us. You're part of our team now." I said, offering him a hand to get up. He took my hand and got up slowly. "Can the next place we hide be like a Burger King or something?" He asked, in a pleading tone.

"Oh boy." Sighed Mitzi, and she slapped her forehead in frustration. "Should we make him a vampire too? Peter's going to come after him sooner or later, and he's totally defenseless right now."

"We'll leave that up to him." I told her.

"Well Mark, do you want to be a vampire?" Mitzi asked him.

"Uh, I don't know. Does it hurt?" he asked.

"Yes searing horrible pain, the worst you'll ever feel in your life…ever." I answered.

"But Charlotte can speed it up so the process only takes seconds. Right Char?" Mitzi asked with her eyebrow raised.

"Yeah I guess." I grumbled.

"Can I just tag along and think about it for a while?" he asked. He looked so small and scared with his puppy dog eyes that I immediately felt sorry for him. He hadn't asked for this. The only reason he was here was because he tried to save me from Peter. If it wasn't for him, I might be Peter's captive girlfriend-thing right now.

"Sure Mark." I sighed. "Come on."

"Well you get to carry him." Mitzi declared.

"Why?" I complained.

"Because of this!" And with that she shouted out, "Not it!" and raced off.

I swung Mark onto my back and chased after her. The cool night air whipped my face, but it wasn't painful, it was sort of refreshing. I could sense everything around me. Insects in the grass and people sleeping in their houses. It was pretty awesome.

"Wow! Being a vampire is so LT!" Mitzi cried.

"Where are we going?" I shouted back.

"Ian's house!" She called.

"Why?"

"Because Peter doesn't really know him, he's our friend and because I couldn't think of anywhere else at the moment." she yelled into the wind.

"Um, sure." I said back. I was pretty sure my words were swallowed by the wind we created by running so fast.

Ian was one of our best guy friends at school. He was really tall, and he towered over everyone else. He was really skinny, with curly dark hair.

After about two minutes of running we were in Ian's backyard.

"Alright Mark, stay here till the coast is clear." Mitzi instructed.

"Wait you get to go, and I don't?" He whined. "I've been on this adventure longer than you and you think you're so special because you're a vampire? Men can do anything! he shouted triumphantly and began climbing up to Ian's window.

Mitzi looked at me and then at Mark. I shrugged and we both leapt up two stories to Ian's window in one bound, leaving Mark struggling below. Mitzi banged on Ian's window which wasn't covered by shades. We could see him sleeping. His long legs hung off the bed.

"Hey, sleeping beauty! Wake Up!" Mitzi hollered.

"Shhh!" I hissed. "His family is sleeping!"

"Oh right." Mitzi sighed. "Hey sleeping beauty! Wake up!" she whispered, and smiled at me.

I pushed her aside and broke through the window with a punch. We both leapt in I perched on the window sill and Mitzi leaned against the wall with her arms folded over her chest. We looked really dangerous and pretty awesome. Ian woke up with a start and sat bolt upright in his bed.

"What in the name of god almighty?" he shouted.

He saw me in the window and Mitzi ran to cover his mouth before he screamed. He swatted her hand away.

"What are you creeps doing?" he demanded.

"We need a place to hide." I answered.

"From what? If it's the police then get the f**k out!" he hissed.

"Not the police." Mitzi sighed. "Peter Dari."

"Oh well I understand Peter is exceptionally ugly, but that doesn't mean you break through my window in the middle of the night! And why do you two look so different? A makeover or something?" Just then Mark huffed, puffed and tumbled through the window, landing with a thud on the floor. He rolled over onto his back grunting a few times. He wheezed and coughed, and said, "See I told you."

"And now it's a party!" Ian cried. "What the hell is Mark doing here?"

"Well he's still deciding." I sighed, staring at Mark.

"Deciding what? Whether or not he wants to be on America's Most Wanted?" Ian demanded.

"Whether or not he wants to be a vampire, like us." Mitzi stated.

"Alright. I'm calling the cops." Ian said. He got up and started to fumble around for his cell phone. I heard foot steps coming from down the hall.

"Hide!" I yelled.

Mitzi sprang up and held on to the vertical supports on the ceiling. Mark ran and hid in the closet, and I hid under Ian's bed.

"Ian is everything alright?" Ian's mom asked. "Oh my god what happened to your window?"

Ian glared at Mitzi up on the ceiling and she gave him a desperate expression.

"Um, a rabid bird flew into it…I swear." Ian said.

"Is it in your room?!?" the mom demanded.

"Er, no I kicked it back out through the hole." He mumbled.

"You must have really good aim…" The mom said sarcastically with her eyebrow raised. "Are you having nightmares again?"

"No mom, good night now." Ian sighed.

"Good Lord Ian." The mom breathed and left the room.

"Mitzi, Charlotte, Mark. Come here now!" Ian hissed.

Mitzi landed with a soft thud. Mark opened the closet door and came out in one of Ian's sweatshirts eating a chocolate bar, and I rolled out from under Ian's bed coughing.

"Oh my God, Ian I can't believe I survived 10 minutes under there. It's a wasteland of dust bunnies and socks lost long ago." I said.

Ian wasn't really listening, he was glaring at Mark.

Mark, who was still munching on the chocolate bar, looked up innocently.

"What?" he asked.

"You're eating my food and wearing my clothes Mark. I didn't even want you in my house and now you're taking advantage of me."

Ian jumped and wrestled Mark to the ground. In a few seconds Ian was sitting on Mark who was crying, "I wanna be a vampire now! Ian get off me!"

"Guys stop now! You're mom is gonna come back. And then what?" I hissed at them.

They untangled themselves and stood up looking ashamed. Mitzi was watching the whole thing with a smirk of amusement on her face.

"Alright, now I want an explanation for why you got makeovers, broke through my window, and are now in my house." Ian demanded.

"I did not get a makeover… I'm a man." Stated Mark with a mouthful of chocolate.

"Shut up Mark." Ian, Mitzi and I said in unison.

"If we told you what really happened you wouldn't believe us." Mitzi sighed.

"Try me." Challenged Ian.

"Well a mutated Peter vampire chased me home from church, Mark threw the cross on a stick which started some kind of Family Feud and now we've been running and hiding in terror for the past few hours. None of us are safe until Peter is dead." I explained. I think I summed up our story pretty well. I was trying to follow the KISS method (Keep It Simple Stupid) considering Ian would probably be going through a lot in the next 24 hours.

"So why did you choose my house?" demanded Ian.

"Well why don't you ask Mitzi?" I said and cocked my head in her direction.

"Oh God, It's so obvious that Mitzi likes me. This whole thing must have been staged just so Mitzi could finally get it off her chest! Well you know what, I've liked you Mitzi since fourth grade and been to afraid to tell you! I don't care that you broke my window and got me in trouble in Social Studies for drawing los burros locos on a worksheet! We're meant to be together!" Then in a fit of pure craziness Ian leapt across the room. Quicker than lightning Mitzi leaped aside and Ian barreled straight into Mark and kissed him on the forehead.

"Oh! Sick!" Mark screeched. He ran over to me and hid behind me and whispered. "Don't make any sudden movements, Now where's the nearest bathroom so I can exfoliate my tainted face."

"Oh my God." Mitzi said with a look of bewilderment on her face.

"Uh, sorry Mark." Ian apologized.

I just watched it all happen, not bothering to stop Ian's speech of devotion because honestly, it was way too interesting.

"Er, don't flatter yourself you big clumsy butt wipe." Mitzi mumbled. "It's not just some big scheme to express my love for you. Sorry to burst your dream bubble, but it ain't gonna happen Romeo."

"Prove it!" Ian hissed, suddenly remembering that his mom was down the hall. He looked really upset, and I felt kind of bad for him considering he'd just spilled his deepest secret and nobody seemed to care.

"Easy." I said. "Just look at my eyes, feel my skin, or give me something you cherish to break."

Ian looked at me with concentration, as if he was seeing me for the first time. His eyes grew wide and he walked across the room and put a finger on my forearm.

"Ew, you're cold." He stated.

"Thank you sir points out the obvious-a lot." I sighed in frustration.

"I guess you guys really are telling the truth." He said. He had a dazed look in his eyes as if someone had just told him he was the princess of Genovia or something.

"I know it's a bit of a shocker, but we really aren't crazy." Mitzi said.

"Yeah not crazy." Mark added from in the corner. He had finished Ian's chocolate bar and was inspecting the wrapper as if he wished more chocolate would magically appear.

"So are you in?" I asked him.

"What do you mean?" He asked hesitantly.

"Will you protect us from Peter for a while and risk your life so that we may live?" I asked intensely. Maybe I was laying it on a little thick.

"Um, what have you guys ever done for me?" He questioned with one eyebrow raised.

"If you don't help us, I'll die." Mitzi said.

"Deal." Ian said.

"He totally said yes because of me." stated Mark from the corner.

"One more crack like that and I'll personally feed you to Peter." Ian said with a serious expression.

Mark squeaked and hid behind me again.

"So you don't like me?" Ian asked Mitzi in a defeated voice.

"No Ian =, but maybe if you straighten up that-"

Mitzi was cut off by a loud vicious snarl coming from the window. We whirled around and Peter was there, crouched on the windowsill with a smug expression on his face.

"We meet again." He said in his silky-creepy voice. "And now what? With two pathetic humans you have no place to hide! I guess I'll finish you two and then have a snack too. It just keeps getting better!" He laughed.

"Don't touch Mitzi!" Ian cried.

"Or what? You'll throw a menorah at me?" Peter sneered,

"I'm not Jewish!" Ian cried. With a loud whoop, he lunged at Peter who slapped him aside where he landed against the wall and crumpled to the floor.

Mitzi looked like she was about to attack or her head really hurt. I couldn't tell. Then she screamed and the next thing I knew we were sitting in a dark alleyway as smoke settled around us.


	4. Chapter 5 We Found Her in an Alleyway

Ian, Mark, Mitzi and I were standing in a disgusting alleyway. There were puddles of poo-water everywhere and a rancid smell hung in the air. There were dumpsters and trash on every inch of the ground and we could hear a police siren blaring in the distance.

"I take it this is the next stop on the terrify-Ian expressway." Ian grumbled.

"What just happened?" I asked staring at Mitzi. Her face was blank and she looked about as clueless as I was.

"I honestly have no idea. I just remember thinking that we had to get out of there and there was no way to escape. I was so desperate to do something and then my sight went black and we were here." Mitzi said.

"Couldn't you have poofed us into a restaurant or something?" Mark whined.

"You are unbelievably fat, Mark." Ian stated.

Mark blinked at him and frowned.

"I think you just discovered your special talent!" I said. I wasn't exactly sure what it was, but it so wasn't cooler than mine.

"Teleporting?" Mitzi asked in an annoyed voice. "You can speed things up and I get teleporting?"

"Hey that's an awesome power Mitz." I assured her. "You can go wherever you want in the blink of an eye."

"If that's the case, can we leave now?" Ian suggested.

"Yeah," Mark added. "I'm still hungry, we've been out all night. This isn't fair to me!"

"See if you can silence your fat cells long enough for me to concentrate on a nice beach in Hawaii." Mitzi barked.

We all stood in silence staring at Mitzi as she closed her eyes tight and took long deep breaths. A few seconds passed and nothing happened. After about five minutes of this Ian shouted, "What kind of batteries do you take? I'd be happy to pick them up for you at the local drug store while I'm getting mugged in this inner city alleyway!"

"Shut up Ian." I said calmly. "What's wrong buddy?" I asked Mitzi.

"I don't know." She answered. "I guess I can only do it when it's an emergency."

Ian rolled his eyes. "Fabulous." He taunted.

I gave him a sinister glance and he looked down. We had to get out of this alleyway and figure out where we were. We could be in any country in the world considering how erratic Mitzi's teleporting seemed to be. We walked in a group to the end of the alley and looked out onto the streets. It was a calm night and streetlights lit the otherwise deserted streets. Brownstone buildings stretched in either direction.

"Where are we?" I asked, looking at Mitzi.

"I'm not gonna lie," she said. "But this looks a lot like the part of New York City where my uncle's apartment building is."

She glanced up and down the street quickly and nodded her head a few times.

"Can we walk to the next block?" she asked quietly.

"No I'm tired poof us away." Mike demanded.

"Give her a chance." I said

We walked up to the next block on which we found a restaurant and Mitzi's uncle's apartment building. It was a modern looking building in a nice area of the city. She jumped up and clapped her hands and ran in the direction of the entrance. The doorman recognized her and we were in and riding up the elevator in less than a minute.

"That was successful." I said into the awkward silence on the elevator.

"Yeah." Mitzi replied. She had a smile of confidence on her face and her arms were crossed over her chest.

"Won't your uncle have a fit when he finds out you were in his apartment?" I asked her.

"No, I mean not really. He said I could use his apartment any time I wanted when I was older, so why not now in our time of need? Plus he'll never find out, he's all the way in San Francisco."

"Do you have a key or anything?" I asked.

"Um no." she said hesitantly.

We decided that she would climb around the side of the building and break the latch holding the window closed, climb in through there and let everyone else in through the front door. After about five minutes, I heard the door unlocking and Mitzi emerged.

"I love my vampire skills." She said wickedly, and Ian almost had a heart attack.

We all piled in and glanced around the modern looking apartment. We were standing in the living room a large couch stood against the wall with an edgy looking coffee table. To the left and right were large bedrooms artfully decorated and extremely neat.

Mark dashed for the fridge and started rifling through. He found a few crackers and a fancy looking cheese and dug in.

"Alright Mark and Ian can share this small and uncomfortable modern couch and Charlotte and I will take my uncle's room" Mitzi directed.

"Wait, whoa." Said Mark with a mouthful of food. "That's not fair. You vampires don't even sleep."

"Oh yeah that's true." Mitzi remembered. "Do you care if we have a room? "

"Not really." I replied. I noticed Mark wander back and forth and peer into the bedroom. He calmly walked up to Ian and shouted. "You sleep on the floor!" and dashed into the room. Ian looked at us both and walked over to the bedroom with a sigh. Realizing the door was locked he hollered "You big gelatinous, jiggily, oaf!" and slammed the door. He walked dejectedly over to the bathroom, mumbling curses under his breath.

Mitzi and I were alone in the living room. We sat together on the couch and talked for a while about old memories. We never got tired so the conversations went on and on. It was about one in the morning when things started to get serious.

"It hasn't really sunk in until now." Mitzi said out of the blue.

"What hasn't?" I asked softly.

"The fact that we're vampires. It hasn't hit me until now. We're not tired or hungry and we don't need to shower unless we get dirty, or brush our teeth and we'll never die or get our periods or get married or be normal ever. I can't believe it." Her voice faltered and she dropped her head into her hands. She was right, of course she was. I just hadn't thought about any of that yet. I was just as depressed as she was, but I managed to put my arm around her and mumble something like, "It's okay."

She started sobbing and no tears came which made her cry even harder. Before I knew it I was crying too. Trust me, I'm usually the one who laughs at the sappy scenes in movies, but I couldn't help it. I started thinking about our families and how Mitzi and I were the only family we had right now. It must have gotten pretty loud because Mark trudged out of his room with a sleepy expression on his face.

"Are you two watching a chick flick or something?" he asked groggily.

"No Mark, go back to bed." I whispered.

"Okay." He said and that was the last we heard from him until we heard loud snores coming from his bedroom.

After a few more minutes of sobbing I was the first to calm down.

"Do you want to take a walk or something Mitz?" I asked her.

She nodded in between sobs and started heading for the door.

"Oh no you don't. We're vampires now."

I pointed to the window and she smiled weakly at me. She opened the window and we both stared down seven stories to the street below. I suddenly felt very nervous.

"You first." I said and moved behind her.

She gave me a quick look and leapt out the window landing gracefully and lightly on the pavement below. "Come on!" she called up to me.

I knew I was a vampire now and that meant that I could basically do anything, but jumping out of a seven story window still gave me the creeps. I made the sign of the cross and said a silent prayer and jumped. The cool night air was refreshing. Falling felt like sinking to the bottom in a pool. It was slow, relaxed and under control. I felt so free! I landed on the ground with a muted thud and gave Mitzi a beaming smile. How often can you say you just jumped seven stories?  
We gave each other a high five and started walking down the block. After we strolled down a few blocks Mitzi stopped abruptly at the opening of an alleyway.  
"What is it?" I asked.

She pointed silently down the alley to a human shaped lump sitting against one of the brick walls.

"We should help it." She said pleadingly.

"Why? Can't we just leave it in peace?" I asked her.

"We should ask it what it needs or something. We're vampires now we're indestructible let's do something good with our powers!" she said triumphantly.

"Whatever." I was afraid that if I said no she would burst into tears again. She seemed pretty delicate.

We approached the lump and saw that it was a girl slumped against the wall she looked exhausted and pale and… vampire-ish?

"Hello." Mitzi said bravely.

The girl turned towards us and gave us a sad look. She had wavy red hair down to the small of her back and it shone even in the dim lamplight. She had startling cheekbones and piercing red eyes.

"What do you want?" she asked sadly. Her voice was heavy with grief.

"We want to help you." Mitzi said confidently. "Are you one of us?"

"I doubt you can help me and if by one of us you mean a vampire than yes." She said quietly.

"What are you doing here in this alleyway?" I asked her.

"Well it's not like I can go to my parents' house. I might try to kill them! And what am I supposed to do, barge in on some innocent family? I don't think so!" she answered. There was a lot of emotion in her voice.

"Who did this to you?" I asked her compassionately.

"You wouldn't know him so what difference does it make?" she answered. "Did you know that I've met twenty hoboes, five alley cats, and eight stray dogs in the past week?"

"Why would we need to know this?" Mitzi asked in a confused voice.

"I'm sorry even post- transformation I still have these nerd spazzes where I blurt out random facts that might be totally non related to the current subject and-" She couldn't finish her sentence because Mitzi cut her off.

"Hayley! She shouted and crushed her in a powerful hug.

It took me less than a second to realize what was happening, and then I joined the hug. Hayley was one of our best friends and we hadn't seen her in a while. She was ambitious, smart and really nice, and I felt my heart ache when I realized she had to go through everything on her own. The transformation must have been really painful and she was probably confused and abandoned with nowhere to go. She obviously knew what happened to her, I mean we'd only obsessed over twilight together about a hundred times.

"Wait." Hayley said, interrupting the moment. She pulled back and examined both our faces for the first time. "Charlotte, Mitzi, it's you guys!" she crushed us both in a hug that would have turned rock to dust.

"I can't believe it's you!" I exclaimed.

"I could say the same. How'd you find me? How'd you guys become vampires? Do you have any special skills? Where are you guys staying? Is anyone else with you?" she spoke so fast I could only catch every word because of my new vampire enhanced senses.

"Whoa," said Mitzi. "Slow down. We'll explain everything."

We spoke in rapid speech and quickly relayed the night's events to her from the beginning at the Christmas Eve Mass to an hour ago when we invited ourselves to stay at Mitzi's Uncle's apartment about five blocks away.

"Wow. And you said Mark and Ian are with you and neither of them are vampires?" She asked.

"Um, well… no." I answered. "They just know too much and are vulnerable now that Peter knows he can hurt them to get to me."

"Oh." Said Hayley softly.

"So what's your story?" Mitzi asked.

"Well I was in the city with my family and we were skating in Rockefeller Center, and I had to run to the bathroom. I sort of got lost wandering down some corridor that looked familiar, but actually wasn't. I was about to back out and ask someone, when Peter jumped me. I had no idea what hit me until I saw is wild face inches from mine. I seriously thought I was getting raped or something so I scrambled for my cell phone, but Peter took it and crushed it in his hand. Then he bit me. The next thing I remember is the worst pain in my life coursing through my veins like acid was burning up my heart and lungs. It felt like days went by, but I guess it was just a few hours. I have no idea where my family is, and I have no intention of finding them because I'm not sure how dangerous I am yet. I've distanced myself from all humans except those hobos I told you about. So far I've only killed one squirrel and three pigeons; I'm telling you it tastes like sour orange juice, if you can imagine it. It's gross but it keeps my throat from burning like hell." She plopped back down against the wall.

I'd completely forgotten the need for blood because of all the night's events, but as soon as she mentioned feeding my throat burst into flames, like a mixture between acid reflux and a terrible sore throat. "uuuhh." I moaned.

Mitzi looked like she'd suddenly lost control as well. Her eyes were a deep red and she looked scarier than any of the Twilight vampires.

"What the-?" Hayley looked at us like we'd spouted three heads. "You haven't fed yet?" She asked.

"No." Mitzi rasped.

"Yeah, they don't really explain enough the need for blood in the Twilight books. They sort of glorify the neat aspects of being a vampire and leave out the not so glamorous parts." She explained. "We could go to Bryant Park, that's where I found most of the squirrels."

"Sure anything! I feel like Mark after not eating all day." I grumbled.

"Okay, follow me." She directed.

We raced behind her at lightning speed through the deserted streets of the city until we reached the park. It was completely empty because A.) It was below 30 degrees out. B.) Hoboes had found a better place to sleep and C.) It was probably about two in the morning.

"So how exactly do we do this?" Mitzi asked.

"Well you just stay really still and quiet and wait for something, and then you jump it." Hayley said simply.

"Ugh, I feel really bad about this, but my throat hurts too much to care." Mitzi sighed sadly.

Suddenly we heard a rustling in a nearby tree that a normal human never could have perceived. In a flash Hayley ran up the tree and dropped two deceased squirrels down to us.

"Oh gross." I stated flatly.

"Look it's all they have in the city except people so enjoy!" Hayley said energetically.

Mitzi sniffed at the squirrel and made a face then apprehensively bit into it. She had a barf-worthy look on her face until she tasted the blood. Which sent her into a feeding frenzy, when she was done she threw the squirrel into the bushes and sighed a sigh of relief.

"Ahh, my throat feels so much better, but that rodent was rancid." She said.

"Tell me about it." Said Hayley.

I completely detested the idea of eating a squirrel, but it was either that or I'd snap and kill Mark next time he complained. I sniffed at the squirrel, it didn't smell appetizing at all, it smelled a little like play dough. I closed my eyes and sunk my teeth into the squirrel trying to imagine normal food. I was disgusted with myself until I felt the warm blood hit my throat. It tasted exactly like Hayley had said, like sour orange juice, but I couldn't stop myself. It quenched the burning feeling and made me feel relaxed and slightly satisfied. When the squirrel was dry, I copied Mitzi and threw it into the bushes where it could rest in peace.

"Ew." I grunted.

"But you feel better right?" asked Hayley.

"Yeah I guess, but I'm not proud of myself." I replied.

"That wasn't the best experience of my life." Added Mitzi.

Hayley was leaning against a tree finger-combing her long red hair.

"Can you believe everything that's happened to us?" she whispered. "I mean a couple days ago we were sitting in out classes, going to football games, having normal lives and now it's all over."

"Everything ends." Mitzi said sadly.

"Hey, we could be like the Cullens and go to high school again and again!" I suggested. "And there's got to be more vampires out there, I mean we can't be the only real ones. Think about it. There had to be someone there to change Peter and someone to change the person who changed Peter!" I said, trying to lighten the mood.

"No more all-girls schools!" Mitzi interjected fiercely. "I don't think I have the tolerance to go through that again."  
"Sounds good!" said Hayley. "Especially since we look like supermodels."

I looked into both Mitzi and Hayley's eyes. We were three gorgeous vampires with no one to lay down any rules. We were invincible, but we were also alone.

"Wonder if any of the other vampires out there are friendly like us." Mitzi said thoughtfully.

"I don't know, we need a coven!" Hayley said excitedly.

"Guys, we sort of are a coven, me, you, Mitzi and the complicated ones Ian and Mark." I told them.

"Yeah!" said Mitzi. "This is awesome! Go team!" She put out her hands for a double high five and Hayley and I obliged. "We need a name for our coven. Anyone got anything?"

"What about something we all have in common?" I asked.

"Like something to do with Peter?" Hayley asked with a questioning look.

"No not that." Mitzi quickly interrupted. "How about something in another language?"

"That might work." I answered nodding.

"Verloren means lost in German." Hayley suggested.

"How'd you know that?" I asked incredulously.

"I'm not sure, there was a lost German to English dictionary in the dumpster and I just picked it up and all of a sudden I could speak German. Pretty cool huh?"

"Whoa." Mitzi said her eyes wide.

"Yeah Whoa." Said Hayley.

"Anyway going back to the subject I like Verloren. The Lost Coven. It sounds really legit." I said.

"Who votes Verloren?" Mitzi shouted with her hand in the air.

All three of us raised our hands.

"Sweet, it's settled." Hayley said.

We gave each other a hug and when we pulled back we were all glittering in the sun, the first rays of sunshine were piercing the darkness and painting it red. A lone jogger passed by and almost smacked into a tree looking at us.

I inspected my hands and they were sparkling as if I spilled glitter on them. I laughed and looked up to see Hayley and Mitzi with huge grins on their faces.

"Let's go." Mitzi directed.

And with that the three of us raced off after Mitzi with the sunrise signaling a new beginning behind us.


	5. Chapter 6 Sun Sun Go Away

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!

"Get out here you gluttonous oaf!" Ian barked, slamming his fists against the bathroom door.

The three of us walked into the apartment and into a WWE arena.

"What's going on?" I asked sharply.

"Mark won't get out of the bathroom, and I have to go. I know you may not care because you guys are special and might not have to pee, but us humans, yeah, we still have to answer the call of the wild."

"Why's he in there?" asked Hayley, incredulously.

"Oh my God, you're a vampire too? This is ridiculous. I feel like I'm in a low budget horror film or a girly twilight movie. Where's Edward so I can hit the road?" Ian asked impatiently.

"Um yeah it's pretty unlikely that he's gonna pop out of a shiny Volvo anytime soon, although it would be greatly appreciated." Mitzi said flatly.

Ian looked at her like he wanted to say something, but was interrupted by a muffled, "Anyone got any toilet paper?" from inside the bathroom.

"Oh that's sick." Ian said. "For all I care you can sit there until your butt is permanently welded to the seat! I'm going to use the lobby bathroom."

He trudged past us and slammed the door in his wake.

"Looks like a lot of fun living with those two." Hayley observed.

"Yeah we haven't had much experience. We've only been one big happy family for one night you know." I told her.

"Yeah and every minute is a new revelation." Mitzi added.

"I can see that." Hayley answered.

We heard a muffled thud from inside the bathroom. And an "Ouch!"

"Mark you okay in there?" I asked.

"I can't find the toilet paper! All that's in here is travel sized toothpaste and fancy French cologne." He called from within his bathroom prison.

"Better get him some paper towels or something." Mitzi said, looking at me urgently.

I rushed over to the ultra small apartment kitchen and rifled through the cabinets until I found some spare paper towels, and brought them back over to the bathroom.

"Mark I brought some paper towels!" I called into the bathroom door.

The door opened up a crack and Mark stuck out his hand. I gingerly placed the paper products in his hand and he pulled his hand in and slammed the door. A minute later he emerged breathing in the fresh air of the apartment. How long had he been in there?

"Thanks for saving me." Mark said.

"Yeah don't count on it next time." I told him angrily.

"I guess next time I'll check before I take a du-" "Enough information!" Mitzi interjected.

"Uh, Sorry." Mark said with an apologetic smile. "Oh, hi Hayley."

"Hey Mark." Hayley responded, with an amused look on her face, like she was trying to hold in a laugh.

Outside the window, the sunlight started streaming in and the three vampires in the room, glittered like Christmas ornaments.

"Wow.." Mark said, with his eyes wide. He moved slowly towards me in a dreamlike state and I didn't really know what he was planning on doing so, I stood there and waited. He was within an inch of me when I thought it was time to say something to the guy.

"Mark-" I prompted.

He extended his arm with his pointer finger out and lightly poked my cheek. "Touch." He said simply and put his arm back down.

"Ok then, glad that's out of your system." Mitzi said sarcastically.

Hayley was looking on in amazement. Whether she was more amazed at how odd Mark was or how patient we were to not bite his head off, I'll never be sure.

Just then, Ian entered the room again. When he saw Mark standing outside the bathroom he gave him a death stare. It was scary but not as scary as our vampire stares. Mark quivered and ran behind me.

"Why do people like you exist?" Ian asked Mark in an exasperated voice.

"You smell bad." Mark said weakly, in an attempt at a comeback.

Ian disregarded him and ambled over to the fridge and cracked open a soda.

"Not to be poster child for obesity," Ian said glaring at Mark, "But what's for breakfast? I mean I'm a growing child and I need food."

"KFC would be nice." Mark suggested.

"For breakfast?" Hayley asked.

"Yes…" Mark said defeatedly.

"Well we can't go out, but I guess you guys can run and get something. I mean it's not like Peter's gonna nab them in the light of day." I told them.

" That's true. I guess they can go."

"Sweet!" Mark exalted, jumping out from behind me.

He ran up to Ian, grabbed his arm and swiftly exited the room, calling "See you sparkly people later!"

Hayley, Mitzi and I looked at each other and shrugged.

"So what's the plan for today?" Hayley asked.

"Um, I'm not exactly sure. We're not in Forks so it's actually sunny out, so we're basically trapped." I said sadly.

"No fun." Mitzi sighed, and plopped down on a modern, uncomfortable arm chair. "So I guess if we want to have any fun, we've got to relocate?"

"Yes, but not now, as long as Peter's not here, we're staying." I told her firmly. "I'm tired of running from him every few hours. We'll stay until he figures out where we are."

"Hopefully that will take a nice long time." Hayley said in a wishful tone.

Suddenly the front door opened, and Ian walked in with an exasperated look on his face.

"Mark waited till we were a block away to tell me he has no cash." He informed us. "Anyone care to spare a buck or two? I can hear his stomach growling from in here."

I patted my hospital gown and shrugged. I knew I didn't have anything. Mitzi was in her pajamas so that pretty much answered Ian's question. Hayley shook her head sadly.

"So we're pretty much gonna starve unless, we drink blood? Fabulous, just fabulous."  
Ian muttered pacing back and forth.

"Calm down." Mitzi suggested. "I have an emergency bank account that I guess we can pull from. I mean, It's not like I'm going to college or buying a car anytime soon anyway."

"Alright."

"Can I trust you with my account number?" she asked seriously.

"Mitzi, you can trust me with anything. You're a bird I'm a bird you're a tree, I'm the leaves. You're-"

"Okay then!" I practically shouted.

Mitzi looked like she was going to puke. She told him the number quietly and sent him on his merry way.

As soon as the door was closed, Hayley broke the silence.

"Quite a devoted man you've got there." She said leaning her head towards the door Ian had just walked out of.

"Yeah, you dance with a guy once in seventh grade, and it's all downhill from there." She sighed.

"Well he's better than Mark." I added.

"But none of them are better than CJ." Hayley said sadly.

CJ was a guy at Hayley's high school that was practically perfect for her, he probably liked her, but didn't have the courage to ask her out.

"I might never see him again." She muttered looking at the floor.

"Aw Hayley" I plopped down on yet another plastic piece of modern furniture, and she sat next to me. "There's probably a load of hot vampire guys out there! We just have to find them."

"They won't be the same though." Hayley replied sadly.

"If it's meant to be it'll happen, don't worry." Mitzi said patting her on the back.

"Yeah I guess." Hayley practically whispered.

"I know how to cheer you up!" Mitzi said suddenly, jumping out of her chair. "We're in New York City and it gets dark at like five thirty! We should go out and have some fun. I mean, we all look like supermodels, we'll never get tired or hungry, I suggest shopping on 5th Ave. since we all look like hoboes."

She was talking so fast, I barely caught what she said, but I agreed with what she said. I was wearing a wrinkled hospital gown that was slightly stained with squirrel blood. Hayley's clothes were a mess and she didn't have any shoes on, considering when she'd been attacked, she was wearing ice skates, and Mitzi was in a tank top and plaid pajama shorts. We had to do something about this.

"Sounds fun." I said enthusiastically, trying to get some of my excitement to rub off on Hayley.

"Ok." Hayley said, looking up from the floor.

"So it's settled." Mitzi declared happily.

"Um, Mitz?" I asked. "How much exactly is in that bank account? Fifth Ave is expensive, and I don't know how long we're gonna be living like this."

"Oh enough." She said mysteriously with a smile a on her face. "My parents have been adding to it since I was a baby."

"Oh." I replied simply.

We spent the next hour or so, catching up on each other's live since graduation from St. Don's, we imagined what everyone would be doing in about ten years, and what sort of drama would go down at the reunion. Mitzi went over to the computer and checked the internet.

"Uh, guys." She called out to us. "I think you better come see this!"

We leapt up and glided over to her, we peered over her shoulder at the main headline story, it read: Six Children Disappear In Bergen County, NJ.

"Click on it!" Hayley urged.

Mitzi did as she was told and read more of the story.

"_Parents receive worst Christmas present ever, when six promising high school freshman disappeared without a trace all around the same time. Peter Dari, a fourteen year old boy, attending Westrock Highschool vanished little before Christmas, while out sightseeing with his family. Charlotte Brenner was last seen Christmas Eve at the Valley Hospital along with Mark Tolce, they had both been altar serving and Charlotte had been injured on her way home from Mass. Chelsea an A student at Kackpass Valley High School, and Mark a student at the prestigious John Bosco Preparatory School. A few days later, Mitzi Prime, disappeared out of her own bedroom, with no evidence of trespassing left behind except for shattered glass in a guest bedroom. Mitzi was an honors student at Immaculate Mary Academy. The same night, Ian Calatrava, also vanished from his bedroom. The window was broken and the back yard severely damaged. Hayley Springer was abducted while in New York City with her family. She was an outstanding student at Bergen Engineering High School. Nothing is known of the criminal responsible for these disappearances, or his whereabouts, but there is a pattern in his victims, they were all students at St. Don's Academy last year, whose parents where good friends. Whether it's to get to the parents of just some sick plot by a psycho kidnapper, the authorities are not sure. Many schools in the area have closed, including St. Don's and the victim's high schools until this captor is found. Until then the Bergen County police department suggests keeping your children close to you and staying indoors at night, which is when the villain always strikes. This is a tragedy for everyone involved. If you've seen any of these children please…."_

"Oh my God." The three of us said in unison. Underneath the news story were our latest school photos. Peter was smiling happily along with the rest of us. These pictures were taken only last month and yet our appearances had changed so much in such little time.

"We've got to let our parents know that we're okay." I stated.

"How?" Mitzi asked.

"Yeah," added Hayley. "We're vicious blood sucking creatures of the night. That's not exactly something you want to unload on your parents and the media."

"For now, the best thing we can do is just lay low." Mitzi said softly. "And not show this to Mark or Ian okay? It'll just make them want to run home, but we can't take that risk right now."

"Okay." I said as strongly as I could. I just had to keep telling myself that everything we were doing was for the best, we couldn't let our parents in on anything or else Peter might target them too.

I heaved a heavy hearted sigh and reached over Mitzi and closed the page.

Part II

"Hey guys." Mark huffed as he tumbled through the door with a paper bag bulging with food on his hip. He set it down on the coffee table and it reeked of Italian food and pizza.

"We went to Sotto's down the street, not bad." Ian declared. "So what did the undead do all afternoon?"

"Um, talked and stuff," Hayley blurted.

"Yeah, we had a lot to catch up on." I added.

"Alright whatever." Ian said shrugging.

Mark was in the mini kitchen stocking the fridge with all of the leftovers.

"We were thinking of going out tonight, you know, we'll go shopping and stuff like that, we need new clothes if we're gonna blend in."

"That's true, girls in bloody clothes don't really fly too well, unless it's Halloween." Ian taunted.

"Right, exactly." I responded.

Mitzi and Hayley were slowly inching toward the door and motioning for me to come with them. I scrambled over to them and blabbed something like, "See you later!" and was out the door in the blink of an eye.

Since it was the middle of winter, the sky was pitch dark at 5:30. We looked like kids in Halloween clothes. I was the evil scientist doctor, Mitzi was the bed head, and Hayley was the bloodstained vampire.

"So where should we go first?" Mitzi asked, skipping happily down the sidewalk.

"We look like hooligans." Hayley said jokingly.

"Well that's why we're doing this!" Mitzi said.

"How about we go down fifth ave, get kickass clothes, and then go do something in Times Square, like see a play or something." I suggested.

"Sounds awesome!" Hayley agreed.

We raced down back alleys and slowed down when we were nearing 5th ave. We walked along slowly as soon as the streets started becoming more populated. People stared as my hospital robe swished with every step I took.

We turned onto fifth ave, and stood and stared. The decorations from the holidays were still up and everything glittered with red and green.

"Wow. This is awesome!" Mitzi declared. "We're shopping in NYC! I'll be right back, I'm gonna go get some cash!" She sprinted down the sidewalk slightly faster than human speed, leaving Hayley and I staring after her. We meandered along looking at the store windows close to where we were. The mannequins were modeling fancy fur-trimmed winter coats and skinny jeans in every color of the rainbow. Someone ran up and poked my shoulder. I turned around to find Mitzi waving a ridiculous sized wad of cash in my face.

"Oh my God, how much do you have there?" I asked incredulously.

"That's for me to know, and me to spend on my best friends. Let's go!" she said.

I grabbed Hayley, who was gazing at the Prada windows, and pulled her inside the store. Men in fancy suits were standing at the door, they greeted us with "Good evening, Miss." It was super fancy.

The people in the store stared at our out-of-place wardrobe. One of the employees approached me, with an extreme expression of bewilderment on his face.

"Um, can I help you?" he asked condescendingly.

"Yes" I replied confidently. "My friends and I are supermodels we just got done with a shoot for Australian Vogue. Our stylist misplaced our clothes, so she sent us out to buy something new, I'm not sure Prada has what we're looking for." I said snootily.

He totally bought all of it. He must have seen how amazing we looked underneath our shabby clothes.

"Oh, let me assure you, we have everything you're looking for! Let me get you some things to try on!" He insisted, scurrying away. He came back quickly with a huge selection of clothes. He led me to a dressing room, where I met up with Hayley and Mitzi. Hayley was standing outside the room inspecting her outfit in the full length mirror. She was wearing a black v neck tank with a green blazer and tan shorts, with strappy brown heels.

The employee steered me into a dressing room with a decorated mirror and a small table with a steaming cup of cappuccino. Kissing up much? On racks on the walls, four outfits were coordinated for me. The first was, I assumed, an evening outfit consisting of a poofy pink dress. I immediately put that one on the "no" hook. Next there was an edgy looking business suit, with ultra puffy shoulder pads. That also joined the poofy pink concoction on the "no" hook of shame. Then, there was a more punk-looking outfit. It had a stylish leather biker jacket, with a dark red tank top underneath. The pants were dark skinny jeans.  
I tried it on, and I actually looked like the supermodel I was pretending to be. I walked out to look at myself in the full length mirror. The attendant was coming back with shoes and he dropped his box clumsily.

"That looks very flattering on you. Miss." He said as he scrambled to pick up the huge shoe boxes. "I have the shoes to that outfit right here." He offered me one of the biggest shoe boxes. I took it from him, set it on the ground and lifted the huge top. Buried under all the wrapping was a pair of black knee high boots with heels. I slipped them on and walked around in them, they were pretty comfortable.

"These will do." I said as calmly as I could.

Just then, Mitzi came out of her dressing room. She was wearing a black shirt with multiple strands of long white pearls. Her pants were white skinny jeans, and she wore a similar pair of black boots.

"Whoah!" she said and walked toward me. "You look fierce!"

"Same to you." I told her, and nudged her with my elbow.

"Where's Hayley?" She asked.

I shrugged and walked out of the dressing room and searched the store for any sign of her. It didn't take long to spot her. She was surrounded by the younger attendants in the store, she was talking and laughing and they all seemed enchanted by her.

"Wow." I said laughing.

Mitzi and I walked out into the store to join her.

"Hey guys! You look great! Have you guys met Alexandro? He just came back from Italy, he was working on his modeling career." She said.

"Um, no." I answered. "Hey Alexandro."

"Hi." He answered shyly.

"Come on! Let's go!" Mitzi said rolling her eyes. She grabbed Hayley and I, and ushered us up to the counter.

"We'd like to buy everything we're wearing." She stated simply. The clerk looked at her as if she was joking. When he saw her serious expression, he blinked hard, and started punching numbers into the checkout computer.

"Please hand me the tags." He said with his hands out.

"Yeah no need to return these." Mitzi said.

We all started ripping off tags and handed them in a pile to the man behind the counter.

"Um, Madam?" He motioned for Mitzi to join him behind the counter. He whispered something to her that sounded like, "Are you sure?" She nodded confidently and plopped a wad of money on the counter.

"Thank you for your assistance today." She said. "Come on girls." She said. Mitzi wound her arms through Hayley's and mine, and we walked out the door together.

We worked our way through many, many stores and acquired so many bags, it was getting ridiculous.

Our bags were growing heavy in our hands as we walked home through the usually busy streets of NYC late at night. Something was different than before though. There was a feeling of excitement and electricity in the air. We turned a corner and found out why. The street was packed with girls all screaming at random intervals and craning their necks to see something at the front of the mass horde.

"What's going on here?" I asked some girl with pink streaks in her hair and cheesy shutter shades on her face.

"Are you kidding?" she replied obnoxiously. "Only like the biggest event of the year. THE JONAS BROTHERS are signing CDs for future Mrs. Nick Jonas's like me!!!."

Just then, the girls started screaming about something that was happening up front, that I couldn't see.

Mrs. Nick Jonas started screaming "wooo!" at first and then it got louder and louder. "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!! WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" she hollered in a manly voice. Hayley, Mitzi and I backed away slowly until we were back outside the mob of teenagers.

"What a charmer." Mitzi said sarcastically.

"I wanna meet the Jonas Brothers!" said Hayley excitedly.

"Me too." I admitted.

"Let's do it." Suggested Mitzi.

The three of us broke through the outer layer of people and were instantly immersed in a sea of sweaty screaming girls. We used the "elbow" technique and managed to barrel ourselves halfway to the front, when Mitzi and Hayley abruptly stopped. I turned to look back at them and both of their eyes were black, and their faces were twisted in pain.

"What's wrong?" I asked quickly.

"Some looser girl just cut her foot or something." Hayley answered. Her eyes weren't focused on me, they were concentrating in the direction of a girl who was inspecting her flip-flop feet. (Flip flops in December?)

"I'm so thirsty." She said in a velvet intoxicating voice.

"We better get out of here." Mitzi said. Her eyes were also locked on flip-flop girl.

Mitzi grabbed Hayley's shoulder and they fought their way back out of the crowd, using vampire strength when necessary, and I was alone. I considered following them home, but for some reason, something was telling me to continue. I listened to the voice inside my head, and emerged at the front of the crowd. There about two yards in front of me, Kevin, Joe and Nick sat, signing autographs for girls who looked like they were about to faint. The three of them didn't look real. I was so used to seeing them on TV that it felt like a dream to have them right in front of me. My eyes naturally drifted toward nick who smiled up at everyone who offered him a CD or poster to sign. He was so handsome and so…human. I looked down at my chalk white hand, and it dawned on me that this had probably been a waste of my time. Even if he did notice me, what would be the point of even asking him to sign something?

Just then, as if he could read my mind, Nick looked up at me and our eyes met. His deep brown eyes looked at me and he smiled and nudged Joe who also looked up at me, blinked and looked up at me again. He also smiled….flirtatiously? I could feel the hate from the girls surrounding me radiating out of their bodies. I turned to leave, but was stopped by a simple, "Wait." In a velvety, but not vampire-like voice that could only belong to Nick. I started walking faster and Nick called out louder, "Hey! Wait!", but I didn't stop. I was almost free from the immense flock of people when I crashed into something huge and strong. I looked up to see Big Rob peering down at me with his eyebrow raised.

"You're coming with me." He said simply and grabbed my shoulders and started steering me through the crowd and towards the back door of the huge record store where the Jonas Brothers were supporting their Live Concert CD or something. I could have easily overtaken him, but 1. He's Big Rob, and 2. I didn't want to cause a scene, already girls were staring at me with their mouths hanging open. I was forced through the double doors which apparently led into some sort of stock room. Big Rob released his grip on my shoulders and I turned to face him. I wasn't worried, I could easily punch through the walls and escape faster than he could say, "Burnin' Up"

"What's the deal?" I asked him angrily.

"Mr. Jonas has informed me that you, young lady were harassing him, He made a special request to speak to you about this personally. Why? It beats me, I just do what he wants."

Big Rob started moving towards the door, but turned at the last minute.

"I'll be right outside those doors so don't even think of running off." He warned me.

"Yeah sure, whatever." I replied without emotion, and flopped down on an employee beanbag chair.

I knew for sure that I had not done anything. I didn't even say a word to "Mr. Jonas"; honestly the whole situation sort of amused me, so I waited to see what my accuser had to say. About fifteen minutes later. I heard voices outside with my new vampire senses.

"Is she in there?" asked the soft Nick Jonas voice.

"Yup. She doesn't seem amazed by her near Jonas experience." Replied the huskier Big Rob voice.

"I'll go talk to her."

I straightened up just in time. The door opened and in walked Nick. He was wearing a tight fitting white V-neck T-shirt with his trademark skinny jeans and black and white converse. One curl of his dark hair hung in the middle of his face, it had fallen out of place, during the evening. He looked totally gorgeous, better than TV even. He looked around the room and then at me.

"Hey." He said with an apologetic smile. "Sorry about this." He made a gesture toward the boxes that were piled around me.

"Um, it's okay I guess." I said. "Why am I here though? I did not "harass" you. Maybe you have the wrong girl…"

"No, actually, I just really wanted to meet you and…wow that sounds lame doesn't it? He asked.

"Yeah a little, sorry." I answered. I didn't know where I was getting my confidence from.

He walked over and stood next to me. I could smell his cologne, it smelt amazing, and manly, just what I had expected.

"I feel bad, but the truth is I just had to meet you. I saw you barrel your way to the front and then just stop. Plus you're easily the most beautiful girl I've ever met." He looked at me intensely.

If I could still blush I would have. Instead I just looked down.

"What's your name?" he asked gently.

"Charlotte." I replied.

"Wow, that's really pretty, I could write a song about that." He said. "Where are you from? New York?"

"No actually, I'm from Jersey, I'm staying with my friend's family for a while." I lied.

"Wow, and you're from my home state. No wonder you stood out from the crowd." He said smiling.

I don' know why, but I pulled my long golden hair in front of my face a little. Natural shyness instinct maybe?

"Hey, what's wrong?" He asked with a concerned voice. He lifted his hand and pulled my hair back.

Whoa, I thought. The magazine I'd read a few months ago was right, he wasn't such a shy guy.

"Oh, it's just that I've had a really rough day." I replied lamely. I mean what was I supposed to say? "_Hey, um there's this large and dangerous vampire who's after me and my closest friends, no biggie." _Yeah right.

"Family stuff? Boyfriend stuff?" he asked kindly.

"No, um, I don't have a boyfriend. My life's really complicated at the moment."

"We have so much in common!" He said with a light laugh. "We did about five interviews, two morning shows, a club opening and now this, plus we've been fighting our way through screaming crazies all morning."

"Yeah that can really take a toll on you." I answered with a smile.

"I'm serious!" he said, also smiling. "Plus my publicist keeps trying to get me to ask out Miley again, my life is so tragic." He said in mock agony.

"Oh dear! We better get you to celebrity rehab right away! Come on!" I said jokingly, I grabbed his hand and faked a motion to get up.

He pulled me back down to sit with him. Yeah, he wasn't shy at all.

"You know what Charlotte?" he asked looking at me, and smiling his beautiful rock star smile. I looked up at him. "I've never met a girl like you before. It's not only the fact that you haven't tried to rip off any of my clothes, or forced a pen and poster at me. There's something different about you, and I like that." He said seriously.

Yeah you have no idea, I thought to myself.

Was it possible for vampires to get butterflies in their stomach? Because that's what was happening. I'd never experienced anything like this in my life before.

"And I've never met a guy like you." I said honestly.

This seemed to make him really happy. His smile was brilliant.

"Charlotte, I really want to see you again." He said intensely. "Tomorrow night my brothers and I were gonna go to Nobu for dinner, but I can tell them that I want to go by myself…with you."

"Wow," I couldn't believe what was happening, I had to be dreaming. Wait, vampires couldn't sleep so this had to be real. "Like a date?" I asked shyly.

"Yes, like a date." He said, still looking right at me.

"That would be great." I said, flashing him a blinding vampire smile, with my perfectly white teeth.

Somewhere in the store, a loudspeaker announced that the store would be closing in ten minutes.

"It must be really late." I said, thinking of my friends.

"Do you want a ride home?" he asked with a crooked smile. "I know you're not supposed to take rides from people you don't know that well, do you trust me?" He asked, still smiling crookedly.

"Yes, let's go stranger." I said.

He grabbed my hand and I followed him out of the back room. He crashed right into Big Rob, who saw us holding hands and looked at us suspiciously, and shrugged. He led us through this gross deserted alleyway, at the end, a shining black escalade was parked. Nick opened my door for me, and shut it when I got in. He hopped in next to me on the other side, as Rob started up the car. I told Rob the name of the apartment building and he started heading in that direction. The radio was on Z100, and a song from their new concert CD was playing, a love song. Awkward, I thought, but instead Nick sang it to me in a soft voice, I almost fainted, if that was vampirely possible.

Possibly seeing the amazed expression on my face, Nick smiled and placed his hand over mine.

"You're so cold." He said in a worried voice.

"I'm always cold." I said faking a smile. Uh-oh, the first step to discovering I'm a vampire complete.

Nick was rummaging through the back seat, he sat back down in his seat, with a blanket in his hand.

"We usually wind up sleeping here, because we're on the road so much." He explained. "Here," he prompted handing me the blanket.

"Thanks." I said smiling. I wasn't cold, but I wrapped the blanket around me anyway. It smelled just like him. I relaxed in the smell of his cologne and the softness of the blanket. We drove in companionable silence to the apartment building.

When we pulled up, Nick jumped out of the car and ran around to open my door. He offered me his hand and I took it as I hopped out of the car. When I was safely on the ground, he still hadn't let go.

"It was really amazing meeting you." He said

"I can't believe everything worked out like it did, I mean I fought my way through the crowd, was incarcerated by Big Rob, and met an incredible guy, all in one night."

This seemed to make him happy because he smiled, like he really meant it. He softly kissed my hand and whispered, "Goodnight Chelsea."

"Night." I managed to stammer.

I drifted up the steps in my own cloud of happiness, and almost collided with the doorman who winked at me.

"Hey Charlotte!, You forgot your bags!" Nick was standing on the curb with my shopping bags in his hand. He had an amused expression on his face.

I ran back to him and took them back, he smiled down at me. "Bye Charlotte." He said.

"Bye." I said with a laugh, and ran up the steps. I had never felt so complete in my whole life.


End file.
